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This thesis deals with developmental, universal, grammatical, and functional factors involved in the acquisition of L2 syllable structure. More specifically, using speech data from Spanish and Chinese learners of Swedish, the thesis examines the production and development of syllable onsets and codas—that is, syllable margins. In doing so, the present work draws on various theoretical considerations and empirical findings from research on L1 and L2 acquisition, phonology and phonetics, language variation and language typology. The thesis includes three empirical studies, all of which are based on longitudinal conver­sational data. Study I deals with the acquisition of word-initial /sC(C)/ onsets by one native Spanish speaker, whereas Study II and Study III focus on the acquisi­tion of word-final codas by three native Chinese speakers. Study I and Study II both showed that onset and coda length and phonetic environment are influen­tial factors in the production of syllable structure, while sonority may not be as reliable a predictor of production difficulty. Next, both Study I and Study III provide evidence of a U-shaped rather than linear development of pronunciation accuracy. This pattern is interpreted as an effect of initial increase in fluency, with more focus on content and less on form. In addition, Study III showed that L2 proficiency is related to the epenthesis-deletion differential. An increasing ratio of epenthesis-to-deletion is the first-order indicator of increasing L2 profi­ciency during early stages of acquisition, but increased target-like production becomes the first-order indicator of development at later stages. Finally, Study III showed that learners are aware of potential ambiguity resulting from simpli­fication in different grammatical/functional categories. Codas that are essential for the retention of semantic information are preserved through higher accuracy rates and higher relative levels of epenthesis errors.

2.

Abrahamsson, Niclas

Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Research on Bilingualism.

Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A few studies have indeed reported nativelike behavior in some postpuberty learners with respect to either phonetics/phonology or morphosyntax, a result that has sometimes been taken as evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). However, in the few studies that have employed a wide range of linguistic tests and tasks, adult learners have not exhibited nativelike L2 proficiency across the board of measures, which, according to some, suggests that the hypothesis still holds. The present study investigated the relationship between AO and UA and the incidence of nativelikeness when measures of phonetic and grammatical intuition are combined. An additional aim was to investigate whether children and adults develop the L2 through fundamentally different brain mechanisms-namely, whether children acquire the language (more) implicitly as an interdependent whole, whereas adults learn it (more) explicitly as independent parts of a whole.

This study deals with the development and recoverability of word-final codas in Chinese-Swedish interlanguage. The relation between consonant deletion and vowel epenthesis is investigated from both a developmental perspective and a grammatical-functional one. Longitudinal, conversational data from three Chinese beginner learners of Swedish were analyzed. First, it is shown that for these learners the acquisition of Swedish codas was U-shaped rather than linear such that they exhibited relatively high accuracy rates at early stages, lower accuracy rates at later stages, and again high accuracy rates at more advanced stages. It is also demonstrated that the epenthesis-deletion differential is closely related to second language proficiency in that the proportion of epenthesis to deletion errors increases over time. Furthermore, the data show that word-final codas that are relatively important for the retention of semantically relevant information generate lower overall frequencies of simplification and greater epenthesis-deletion proportions than codas containing information that is relatively recoverable from other segments or features in the context.

Previous studies showed that vowel epenthesis of initial /sC(C)/ clusters in the L2 production of L1 Spanish speakers is conditioned by several variable constraints, such as preceding environment, onset length, and sonority relations among onset members. This case study was designed to investigate whether the patterns obtained from elicited speech also hold for conversational data. A longitudinal corpus of spontaneous/natural speech from 1 adult L1 Spanish learner of L2 Swedish was used. The study confirmed most of the results from previous research, for example, that the frequency of epenthesis varies with preceding phonetic environment. However, the study suggested that a lowering effect of preceding vowels must be present, not just the enhancing effect of preceding consonants suggested by Carlisle (1997).

Results from a number of recent studies suggest that nativelike adult second language (L2) learners possess a high degree of language learning aptitude, the positive effects of which may have compensated for the negative effects of a critical period in these learners. According to the same studies, child learners seem to attain a nativelike command of the L2 regardless of high or low aptitude, which has led researchers to conclude that this factor plays no role in early acquisition. The present study investigates the L2 proficiency and language aptitude of 42 near-native L2 speakers of Swedish (i.e., individuals whom actual mother-tongue speakers of Swedish believe are native speakers). The results confirm previous research suggesting that a high degree of language aptitude is required if adult learners are to reach a L2 proficiency that is indistinguishable from that of native speakers. However, in contrast to previous studies, the present results also identify small yet significant aptitude effects in child SLA. Our findings lead us to the conclusions that the rare nativelike adult learners sometimes observed would all turn out to be exceptionally talented language learners with an unusual ability to compensate for maturational effects and, consequently, that their nativelikeness per se does not constitute a reason to reject the critical period hypothesis.

This essay investigates how certain word-final Swedish rimes are integrated phonologically into Turkish by means of suffixation. Specific Swedish rimes have been selected for their unusual characteristics from the perspective of Turkish phonology such as vowel and consonant quantity as well as coda phonotactics. The data have been collected in an experiment, which involved the oral translation of a Swedish text including potential borrowings such as proper names and place names. The participants were advanced bilingual speakers of the standard varieties of Turkish and Swedish living in Stockholm. Two phonological properties of Turkish are relevant for this essay. Firstly, every word-final rime must have a vocalic, palatal and labial classification in order to be licensed for suffixation. Secondly, Turkish has a large and diverse periphery in its phonological lexicon due to faithful or partially faithful adaptation of a plethora of historical loanwords. The focus of the investigation is if the new borrowings are integrated into the core or into the periphery of the Turkish phonological lexicon or alternatively how faithful their integration is to the Swedish originals. In terms of resolving j-final coda cluster problems, the popular strategies are found to be palatalization, deletion and metathesis. The main body of data displays low faithfulness to the Swedish originals as well as an underutilization of the Turkish periphery. The participants are found to use the periphery of their phonological lexicon to a high degree for established words in Turkish but only to a limited extent when adapting new borrowings from Swedish into Turkish. This finding is explained by the fact that the structural and sociolinguistic conditions are not conducive to periphery maintenance in the present context in contrast to the historical context during the inflow of Arabic and Persian loanwords.

This article investigates the phonological integration of the front coda /l/ after a back vowel in the final rime of words borrowed from Arabic and Swedish into Turkish. This original donor structure is interesting because it in conflict with the core rules of Turkish phonology. Several sub-disciplines of linguistics have dealt with the role of different phonological and sociolinguistic factors in the phonological integration of lexical borrowings but there is no consensus on their respective weights in borrowing and on how their interaction is to be conceptualised. The Arabic data in the study are based on historical loanwords while the Swedish data have been obtained through an experiment. The focus of the article is the choice between adoption and adaptation as integration strategies and how different factors interact in producing the attested integration patterns. The results show that adoption is predominantly preferred to adaptation in both cases due to the dominant status of the donor languages in the contexts of borrowing. Hence, it is argued that sociolinguistic factors play the main role in these two particular cases.

The present thesis deals with Åland, i.e. the Åland Islands, as a language environment. Its main focus is on the language attitudes of adolescents. The status, role and use of Swedish, Finnish and English are topical. Its main part consists of an empirical study, which is based on an extensive questionnaire answered by students in grade 9 of primary school and in the second grade of the (theoretical) secondary school in Åland.

The thesis includes a description of Åland as a language environment. The legal framework making Åland an autonomous region in Finland with Swedish as the only official language is presented. Language policies in Åland are compared with those of Sweden and Finland (outside of Åland). Special treatment is given to the school as a linguistic environment and recent language related debate in Åland.

The central questions in the questionnaire relate to language choice, media habits, subjective estimations of the respondents’ own language competence and language attitudes in a broad sense.

Six hypotheses based on a model of secure and insecure majorities and minorities as well as the Interactive Acculturation Model are postulated and treated.

The results of the empirical study reveal very strong feelings of affinity towards Åland. Attitudes towards English and English-speakers are in general positive. The results reveal somewhat ambivalent attitudes towards Finnish and Finland. Many variables show a tendency among the respondents to favour Sweden ahead of Finland and negative attitudes towards Finnish but there are also other conflicting results. The respondents who have parents who speak Finnish to them display more positive attitudes towards Finnish and Finland. These differences between the groups are statistically significant. However, the group with a Finnish language background also displays its strongest feelings of affinity towards Åland.

This article makes a case for studying the perceptions that young people have of the ways of speaking of both themselves and others on the supposition that constructions of ambient sociolinguistic variation have an impact on the language development and use of individual language users. Such a study is particularly relevant in multilingual contexts in which differences with regard to social as well as ethnic and linguistic background may generate significantly different perceptions. In a speaker evaluation study, Swedish speech stimuli from 12 young Stockholmers were evaluated by 343 listeners from different backgrounds. The results show that young people may divide and relate to the linguistic space of Stockholm in very different ways and that they vary in their degree of accuracy regarding linguistic self-perception.

This study explores the effects that the age of onset (AO) of second language (L2) acquisition exerts on the attrition of first language (L1) event conceptualization patterns. The subjects studied are L1 Spanish–L2 Swedish bilinguals living in Sweden. The specific research questions addressed in the study concern the role of AO in endpoint encoding and temporal perspectivation in goal-oriented motion events. In view of previous findings on age effects in attrition, it is hypothesized that deviations from Spanish monolingual patterns of conceptualization would be limited basically to subjects whose AO is below 12 years of age. The analyses show that subjects with AO > 12 converge with Spanish monolingual controls on both endpoint encoding and temporal perspectivation strategies, whereas deviations from the controls' performance are found exclusively in subjects with AO < 12. It is suggested, in view of these findings, that subjects with early AO are more dependent on advantageous socio-psychological circumstances such as L1 contact and use in order to fully acquire/maintain Spanish event conceptualization patterns, while L1 maintenance in subjects with late AO is less dependent on these factors. It is concluded that patterns of event conceptualization are affected by age in the same way as formal language skills.

The aim of the article is to examine how first language attrition research on maturational constraints interprets and links its findings to current views on maturation in the field of second language acquisition. It is argued that attrition research exhibits certain inconsistencies in the interpretation of the structural characteristics of the critical period and the interplay between maturation and nonmaturational factors in attrition. In view of findings from first language relearning/reactivation and theoretical-methodological advances in second language research on maturation, the article proposes a reinterpretation of maturational constraints in language attrition that, first, emphasizes the gradual decline of susceptibility to attrition and, second, puts forth the conditioning function that the maturational constraints have on nonmaturational factors.

The aim of this study is to examine patterns of segmentation and temporal structuring of events in early bilinguals. The participant group consists of 25 L1 Spanish - L2 Swedish adult bilinguals residing in Sweden, with ages of L2 acquisition ranging from 1 to 11 years. There were 15 native speakers of Swedish and 15 native speakers of Spanish engaged as monolingual controls. The participants provided online-retellings in both languages of an excerpt from the film Modern Times. The bilinguals' L1 and L2 retellings were compared with those of the monolingual speakers of the respective languages. The results indicated that the bilinguals resorted to the same event segmentation strategies in both L1 and L2, opting for an intermediate degree of event resolution. This behavior fell in between the monolingual Spanish high degree of resolution and the monolingual Swedish low degree of resolution. As for temporal structuring patterns, the results showed that the bilinguals in their L2 converged with the Swedish monolingual controls, linking the events by means of anaphoric adverbials (i.e., 'x then y'). The bilinguals also converged with the Spanish-speaking controls in their L1 perspectivation patterns, as both groups left the temporal relation between the events to be inferred and focused on ongoingness (i.e., now x, now y). These findings are discussed in terms of convergence and co-existence of conceptual patterns (Pavlenko, 1999, 2008).

Within the field of SLA, the incidence of nativelikeness in second language (L2) speakers has typically been explained as a function of age of acquisition. An alternative interpretation, however, is that L2 learners do not attain nativelike proficiency because of first language (L1) maintenance. This interpretation has nevertheless remained mostly theoretical due to the lack of empirical evidence. This study sets out to address the role of L1 proficiency in L2 ultimate attainment by examining L1 and L2 proficiency in 30 early L1 Spanish–L2 Swedish bilinguals. Language proficiency was assessed through grammaticality judgment tests and cloze tests, and additional data on language aptitude were collected through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test (v.2.0; Meara, Milton, & Lorenzo-Dus, 2002). The results showed positive correlations between nativelike L1 and L2 behavior. Additionally, it was found that language aptitude was positively correlated with nativelike L1 and L2 performance. In view of these findings, it is suggested that (a) L1 maintenance does not hamper L2 nativelikeness and (b) language aptitude is an important factor for bilingual ultimate attainment.

While language aptitude has been investigated actively within second language research, there is a current dearth of research on the effects of aptitude in cases of attrition. The aim of the present investigation was to explore the role of language aptitude for L1 proficiency in speakers who experienced a break with their L1 setting prior to puberty. Twenty-five L1 SpanishL2 Swedish bilinguals residing in Sweden participated in the study, and 15 native speakers of Spanish living in Chile were recruited as controls. The L1 proficiency was measured by means of a grammaticality judgement test (GJT) and language aptitude data were obtained through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test (Meara et al. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B36">2003</xref>). Results showed a positive correlation between GJT performance and language aptitude. More specifically, the bilinguals with above-average aptitude were more likely to score within the native range on the GJT than those with below-average aptitude. It was also seen that among the participants with below-average aptitude, GJT scores were related to daily L1 use. In view of these findings, we suggest that language aptitude has a compensatory function in language attrition, helping the attriter to retain a high level of L1 proficiency despite reduced L1 contact.

The purpose of the current article is to support the investigation of linguistic relativity in second language acquisition and sketch methodological and theoretical prerequisites toward developing the domain into a full research program. We identify and discuss three theoretical-methodological components that we believe are needed to succeed in this enterprise. First, we highlight the importance of using nonverbal methods to study linguistic relativity effects in second language (L2) speakers. The use of nonverbal tasks is necessary in order to avoid the circularity that arises when inferences about nonverbal behavior are made on the basis of verbal evidence alone. Second, we identify and delineate the likely cognitive mechanisms underpinning cognitive restructuring in L2 speakers by introducing the theoretical framework of associative learning. By doing so, we demonstrate that the extent and nature of cognitive restructuring in L2 speakers is essentially a function of variation in individual learners’ trajectories. Third, we offer an in-depth discussion of the factors (e.g., L2 proficiency and L2 use) that characterize those trajectories, anchoring them to the framework of associative learning, and reinterpreting their relative strength in predicting L2 speaker cognition.

This study investigates the effects of weekly heritage language (HL) classes on first language (L1) proficiency in speakers who arrived in the second language (L2)-dominant setting before the onset of puberty. Two groups of L1 Spanish – L2 Swedish bilingual high school students living in Sweden participated in the study. One group currently attended HL classes once a week, whereas the other group was no longer doing so. The two groups did not differ with regard to the total number of years of HL class attendance, age of arrival in Sweden, length of residence or degree of L1 contact. Results from a grammaticality judgement test and a cloze test showed that the group that currently attended HL classes outperformed the non-attending group. Using a framework that emphasises heightened attrition susceptibility among speakers who lost contact with the L1-dominant setting before puberty, the study suggests that HL classes function as a factor that, all other things being equal, may counterweigh attrition susceptibility. Moreover, it is suggested that the effects of HL classes on L1 proficiency are short term rather than long term. That is to say, once attendance ceases the counterweighing effect is less visible.

The finding that speakers of aspect languages encode event endpoints to a lesser extent than do speakers of non-aspect languages has led to the hypothesis that there is a relationship between grammatical aspect and event conceptualization (e.g., von Stutterheim and Nüse, 2003). The present study concerns L1 event conceptualization in 40 L1 Spanish – L2 Swedish bilinguals (all near-native speakers of Swedish). Spanish and Swedish differ as regards grammatical aspect: Whereas Swedish lacks this grammatical category, Spanish conveys aspect through verbal morphology and periphrasis. The principal aim of the study was to explore the relationship between event conceptualization patterns and proficiency with aspectual contrasts. The participants were asked to provide oral L1 Spanish descriptions of video clips projecting motion events with different degrees of endpoint orientation (see von Stutterheim, 2003). In addition, they took a grammaticality judgment test concerning verb and gender agreement, verbal clitics and aspectual contrasts. Compared with baseline data from monolingual Spanish speakers, the results on endpoint encoding show that the bilinguals mention the endpoints of motion events to a higher degree than the Spanish control group does. Moreover, it was shown that the weaker the bilinguals’ discrimination of aspectual errors on the grammaticality judgement test, the more prone they were to encoding endpoints. This result consequently furthers the hypothesis about the interconnectedness between grammatical aspect and event conceptualization. It was suggested that this finding indicate that the bilinguals are influenced by the Swedish-like tendency to attend to the boundedness rather than the ongoingness of events.

This study investigates ultimate attainment of patterns of segmentation and temporal structuring of events in L2 speakers. The participant group consists of 35 L1 Spanish - L2 Swedish adult bilinguals living in Sweden, with ages of L2 acquisition ranging from 1 to 19 years. Fifteen native speakers of Swedish and 15 native speakers of Spanish were engaged as controls. The participants provided online-retellings of a film excerpt. The results showed that the L2 speakers resorted to an event segmentation strategy with an intermediate degree of event resolution, which fell in between the monolingual Spanish high degree of resolution and the monolingual Swedish low degree of resolution. Regarding temporal structuring patterns, the results showed that the L2 speakers converged with the Swedish-speaking controls, linking the events by means of anaphoric adverbials (i.e., x then y). There was no effect of age of L2 acquisition on the L2 speakers' degree of conformity with Swedish native speaker behaviour.

48.

Bylund Spångberg, Emanuel

Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Research on Bilingualism.

This thesis investigates age-related differences in first language (L1) attrition in a second language (L2) setting. The thesis is based on four individual studies. The aim of each of the studies has been to examine aspects of age differences that to date have remained in the background of attrition research: Study I gives an overview of research on age differences in L1 attrition and suggests a reinterpretation of age effects in attrition, using as a point of departure critical period constructs. Study I also formulates hypotheses regarding the contour and timing of attrition susceptibility and its interplay with non-biological factors. Study II investigates L1 residual knowledge and L2 ultimate attainment in international adoptees. The results suggest that a) that L1 remnants may be found if relearning activities have taken place prior to testing; b) L2 learners who have experienced a complete cut-off in L1 contact do not attain higher L2 proficiency levels than learners who have stayed in contact with the L1. The results also indicate that the level of L1 reactivation and L2 ultimate attainment are related to age of adoption. Study III examines age effects on the retention of L1 event construal patterns. The results show that the onset of puberty is a turning point for the degree of conformity with native behaviour, i.e. those who arrived in the L2 setting before puberty were more likely to exhibit non-converging patterns than those who arrived after puberty. This finding suggests that in attrition conceptual proficiency is equally affected by age as are formal language skills. Finally, Study IV explores the role of language aptitude in prepubescent attriters. The results show that nativelike grammatical intuitions are connected to language aptitude, and that speakers with high levels of language aptitude rely less on L1 contact than do speakers with low levels of language aptitude in their retention of nativelike grammatical intuitions in the L1.

49.

Bylund Spångberg, Emanuel

Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Research on Bilingualism.

This study investigates ultimate attainment of patterns of segmentation and temporal structuring of events in L2 speakers. The participant group consists of 35 L1 Spanish – L2 Swedish adult bilinguals living in Sweden, with ages of L2 acquisition ranging from 1 to 19 years. Fifteen native speakers of Swedish and 15 native speakers of Spanish were engaged as controls. The participants provided online-retellings of a film excerpt. The results showed that the L2 speakers resorted to an event segmentation strategy with an intermediate degree of event resolution, which fell in between the mono lingual Spanish high degree of resolution and the monolingual Swedish low degree of resolution. Regarding temporal structuring patterns, the results showed that the L2 speakers converged with the Swedish-speaking controls, linking the events by means of anaphoric adverbials (i.e., “x then y”). There was no effect of age of L2 acquisition on the L2 speakers’ degree of conformity with Swedish native speaker behaviour.

50.

Chimbutane, Feliciano

et al.

Eduardo Mondlane University, Moçambique.

Stroud, ChristopherStockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Research on Bilingualism.